Search for your
immigrant ancestors:Find out when
your ancestors first arrived in America.

First Name:

Last Name:

Ancestry Daily News
Michael John Neill -- 8/31/2005

A Minor Naturalization

This week
we look at a record that we have not utilized in this column before: a
minor naturalization.

A minor
naturalization does not mean:

That
the individual was a minor at the time of the naturalization.

That the
individual worked in a coal mine (that's a miner, not a minor).

Before we
proceed any further, it is worth noting that for much of American
history mostly men naturalized and before 1906, most naturalizations
took place in some type of county court. There are exceptions, but
generally women did not naturalize (especially when they could not vote
anyway) and for much of American history their citizenship status was
derived from that of their husband or their father (more
information).

For a time
those who immigrated as minors (those under the age of majority, which
was usually twenty-one years for a male) were subject to a slightly
different naturalization procedure. From 1824 to 1906, minor aliens who
had lived in the United States for five years before their twenty-third
birthday could file both their declarations of intent to become
citizens and actual petitions to become citizens at the same time.
Individuals who had immigrated after their twenty-first birthday were
not given this option.

These
declarations and the resulting naturalizations may be filed in a
separate series of records from the other naturalizations (although all
these records are probably in the same records office and may be within
very close proximity to each other).

It is worth
noting that records of minors' naturalizations may be kept separately
from naturalizations of those who immigrated as adults. The genealogist
should always make certain that all records have been searched. In some
cases these records may be squeezed in with other naturalization
records.

To the
uninitiated, the book containing Jann Huls' minor naturalization is
confusing. The spine says Naturalization Record, but the book
actually contains declarations of intent for those who immigrated as
adults and in the back it contains the naturalization Petition,
Final Oath and Certificate for minors. Had I only scanned the first
hundred pages of the book, I would have missed these records in the
back portion of the book.

An
additional hint: Always read the very small print at the top of a
printed document to see if it indicates what kind of document you are
looking at. Those words are not usually put there for decoration.

What Does This Document Say?
This record still provides sketchy information. However because of the
nature of the document and the age of the immigrant, there are a few
additional details that can help us pin down some dates. This
information is not usually given on naturalization records for those
who immigrated as adults.

The
document says:
John was over twenty-one years of age as of 3 September 1888.

What it
means:
John was born by approximately 1867.

The
document says:
Jann had resided in Illinois (and the United States) for eighteen years
and had lived in the United States for at least three years preceding
his arriving at the age of twenty-one.

What it
means:
Jann arrived in the United States around 1870 (based upon how long he
had resided in Illinois). The earliest Jann had his twenty-first
birthday was approximately 1873, because he had lived in the United
States at least three years before turning twenty-one (he may have
lived in the States for more than three years before his twenty-first
birthday but the record does not tell us that). Consequently the
earliest Jann was born was approximately 1852 (1873 minus 21).

So, based
upon various statements in the document, I know Jann was born between
1852 and 1867.

The
document says:
Johann Huls and Jann Albers Fecht had known Jann Huls for five years.

Jann Huls
met Johann Huls and Jann Albers Fecht at least by 1883, possibly
before. In this case, both witnesses have non-English names and the
individuals might have either known Jann before his immigration or at
least been members of the same immigrant community.

Off to Passenger Lists?
Not yet. In reality, searching for Jann's entry on a passenger manifest
should not be done until additional records in the United States have
been searched and more information about his family has been located.
Even with the indexes that genealogists now have, searching passenger
lists is more effectively done when additional information is known.
Our previous analysis of the naturalization documents was done
partially as an exercise to determine what the record did (and did not)
indicate. A common mistake made by some family historians is to search
passenger lists too early, before adequate information is known about
the immigrant.

In this
case, the naturalization does not provide a great deal of data on Jann
(typical of records for this era). Jann's marriage records, obituary,
death certificate, and census information provide additional detail on
his life and should be acquired and studied. (Next week, we'll see how
Jann was located on a passenger list; it was not an easy trick to find
him.)

What Do I Know?
In brief, Jann was born in 1866 in Germany and died in Hancock County,
Illinois, in 1942. His parents were Johann and Meta Huls. The Johann
Huls who was a character witness on the naturalization was Jann's
half-brother and the witness Jann Albers Fecht was Jann Hulsâ€˜
step-father. Additional records provided names of Jann's siblings which
were helpful when searching the passenger lists. Jann was married three
times, with the first marriage being within three days of his 1888
naturalization.

Jann's
1900-1930 census enumerations are fairly consistent with each other and
what is already known about his immigration and naturalization.

In 1900
it is indicated that he immigrated in 1871.

In 1910
it is indicated that he immigrated in 1868 or 1869 and that he was
naturalized.

In 1920
it is indicated that he immigrated in 1868 and that he was naturalized
in 1886.

In 1930
it is indicated that he immigrated in 1871 and that his naturalization
status was unknown.

The years
of immigration listed run a range from 1868-1871, a fairly narrow time
period. One should not expect these years to be completely consistent
from one census enumeration to another. His year of naturalization from
1920 is only off by two years. As for his "unknown" naturalization
status in 1930, there is a reasonable chance that Jann's wife answered
the questions of the census taker in 1930. Jann married this wife in
the 1920s and it is reasonably likely that she might have been
uncertain about some details of his life before their marriage.

Lessons:

Minor
naturalizations are naturalization records for those who immigrated as
minors. Minors were not naturalized of their own volition.

Before
the naturalization reform of 1906, these records were usually created
and kept at the county level.

Years
of immigration and naturalization from census records should be used to
create an approximate time period for immigration, not a precise one.
Your ancestor might not have remembered precisely or might not have
even answered the census questions himself.

Michael
John Neill is the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical Institute of
Mid America (GIMA) held annually in Springfield, Illinois, and is also
on the faculty of Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. Michael
is currently a member of the board of the Federation of Genealogical
Societies (FGS). He conducts seminars
and lectures nationally on a wide variety of genealogical and computer
topics and contributes to several genealogical publications, including
Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. You can e-mail him at mjnrootdig@myfamily.com or
visit his website at: www.rootdig.com,
but he regrets that he is unable to assist with personal research.

Copyright
2005, MyFamily.com. Used by the author on his website with permission.